A former licensed retailer of synthetic cannabis has been sentenced to three years four months imprisonment after a series of police raids netted drugs with a street value of more than $1 million and $181,000 in cash.

David Ronald Young, 52, appeared in the Rotorua District Court on Wednesday where he was sentenced on charges of possession and supply of synthetic cannabis and the class C drugs, TFMPP and BZP.

Judge Philip Cooper said the case involved "very large quantities [of drugs] with very large returns".

Young, the owner of Rotorua retailer Skingraft, was formerly licensed to sell synthetic cannabis until the law change on May 8, 2014, which made the sale of the product illegal.

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Eventually, the 2,500-gallon steamer that sits empty at a massive warehouse in Brown’s Town, Jamaica, will be pumping out spicy sauces infused with marijuana.

At least, that’s what Maurice Ellis is hoping.

The Jamaican business owner of Sun Spice Seasonings cannot help but grin as he admires the machinery he has already packed into his future seasoning factory. He imagines his will be a highly lucrative business in the coming years.

“It’s budding with excitement — pun intended,” he said, giggling. “I mean, there [are] huge opportunities now opening up.”

The government has moved to crush a 200,000-strong petition to legalise cannabis before it's even been debated.

Activists hailed a victory when the huge campaign became the second-most popular cause on a new government website - beaten only by a bid to sack Jeremy Hunt.

It flew past 100,000 signatures, forcing a debate by a committee of 11 MPs when they return from their summer holidays in a few weeks.

The Tory administration has now issued a thundering reply which says it has no plans to end the war on drugs.

They're supposed to reply before a debate takes place, but the strength and tone of ministers' opposition could see the petition blocked before reaching the Commons chamber.

By significant margins, Republican voters in the early primary states of Iowa and New Hampshire say that states should be able to carry out their own marijuana laws without federal interference. Sixty-four percent of GOP voters in Iowa say that states should be able to carry out their own laws, versus only 21 percent who say that the federal government should arrest and prosecute people who are following state marijuana laws.

In New Hampshire, that margin is even slightly higher with 67 percent of GOP voters saying the feds should stay out.

 A western Kansas woman will have a preliminary hearing in November to face charges stemming from accusations that arose after 11-year-old son said in school that his mother smokes marijuana “a lot.”

The Wichita Eagle reports Shona Banda of Garden City has been charged with three felonies and two misdemeanors relating to marijuana use.

Banda’s preliminary hearing is Nov. 16; she has not yet entered a plea. According to The Eagle, Finney County District Attorney Susan Richmeier incorrectly said in an e-mail Monday morning that Banda had entered a plea.

Law enforcement and Kansas Department of Children and Families officials started investigating Banda after her 11-year old son said “my mom smokes … a lot!” during an anti-drug program at a Garden City school.

An early inkling of the commercial potential of marijuana tourism came on a day with a mythical significance for many marijuana users: April 20, 2014, when one travel booking site saw searches for Denver jump nearly 75% year-over-year months after recreational marijuana use was legalized in Colorado.

It happened again this year, according to online hotel booking service Hotels.com, with April 20 searches — “420,” a slang term for marijuana, is linked to 1970s youth and drug culture in northern California — increasing in Colorado but also Washington, where recreational marijuana was legalized in July 2014, and Oregon, where it became legal this July.

About $7 million worth of marijuana stuffed into coffee bags has been seized by police in Cambodia as the country tries to crackdown on the drug, according to the Associated Press. The 1.5 tons of marijuana confiscated during a series of raids is the largest haul police have made since the crackdown began 15 years ago.

The new O’Shaughnessy’s has a piece about Zenia Gilg’s lawsuit challenging the validity of marijuana being on Schedule 1. The federal government’s rationale was explicitly stated —it all comes down to potential for “abuse” as defined by The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

The DSM, published by the American Psychiatric Association, is often called “The Bible” of the profession. It assigns a definition and a number to every ailment of the mind and spirit for which psychotherapists provide treatment, MDs prescribe medication, and insurance companies reimburse. The double purpose of the DSM is to endow the field of Psychiatry with a facade of rigor while facilitating billing.

Alaska, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, and Washington, D.C., have legalized marijuana for adults 21 and older, and Arizona voters probably will get the chance to decide the question for themselves next year.

Here are our Top 10 reasons why marijuana legalization will pass here next November:The people of the 48th state are a proud, independent-thinking bunch who prefer the federal government to butt out (except when we need money). It's a purple state with about 35 percent of voters registered as independent. Put the question before them, and Arizona voters will say "yes" to legal marijuana for a multitude of reasons.